Fire Damages Country Club Building in Purchase

Firefighters responded to a two-alarm fire in the Brae Burn Country Club in Purchase Wednesday morning. No one was hurt, but there was substantial damage to a shop and storage space.

The fire started in the attic of a two-story building, above a shop located within the country club. It took firefighters about an hour to put out the fire, according to Purchase Fire Chief Joe Brefere Jr.

The blaze started at about 7:20 a.m. Brefere said that it was likely an electrical fire, ignited by a ceiling fan in the storage space above the store, but authorities are still investigating.

"We looked down and we saw the smoke coming out," said Ralph Pane, a country club employee who was at the scene. "It was a little foggy this morning, we didn't realize, and then we saw the smoke coming out and we realized it was a fire."

There was heavy smoke and fire inside the building when authorities arrived at the scene, according to Brefere. 

"After we gained access to the building there was heavy flames on the first floor," said Brefere. "We knocked it down and had the scene under control in about an hour."

About 40 total firefighters from the Purchase, Harrison, West Harrison, Town of Mamaroneck and Port Chester Fire Departments responded. Con Edison was also at the scene.

Employees of the country club were able to remove about 40 golf carts from the shop before the fire spread, according to Pane. Firefighters removed workers from the area when they arrived, but were able to save some of the store's merchandise before it was damaged by the fire.

The fire started in the attic, but spread to both levels of the wood-frame building when the fire burned a whole in the ceiling between the two levels, according to Brefere.

The building was severely damaged and will likely need to be destroyed.

No one was allowed to enter the country club for about an hour on Wednesday morning. Other areas of the club were opened at around 8:30 a.m. and the club expects to be open for business by Wednesday afternoon, according to Pane.

The Brae Burn Country Club has about 500 members and has been open in Purchase for almost 50 years.

This is the third fire in Harrison and Purchase in the last seven days. The Harrison Fire Department responded to another two-alarm fire on Puritan Woods Road in June 16. A small basement fire was also reported in Purchase on June 17, but was out by the time authorities arrived at the scene.